The Rider

With The Rider, Tim Krabbé has created a book unique in the ranks of sporting literature. He describes one 150-kilometre race in just 150 pages. In the course of the narrative, we get to know the forceful, bumbling Lebusque, the aesthete Barthelemy, the Young Turk Reilhan, and the mysterious rider from Cycles Goff'. Krabbé battles with and against each of them in turn, failing on the descents, shining on the climbs, suffering on the (false) flats.

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Publisher's Summary

With The Rider, Tim Krabbé has created a book unique in the ranks of sporting literature. He describes one 150-kilometre race in just 150 pages. In the course of the narrative, we get to know the forceful, bumbling Lebusque, the aesthete Barthelemy, the Young Turk Reilhan, and the mysterious rider from Cycles Goff'. Krabbé battles with and against each of them in turn, failing on the descents, shining on the climbs, suffering on the (false) flats. The outcome of the race is, in fact, merely the last stanza of an exciting and too-brief paean to stamina, suffering, and the redeeming power of humour.

This is not a history of road racing, a hagiography of the European greats or even a factual account of his own amateur cycling career. Instead, Krabbé allows us to race with him, inside his skull as it were, during a mythical Tour de Mont Aigoual.

What the Critics Say

"Like all the best sports writing, The Rider manages to convey the excitement, determination, and skill of the competitors even to readers who have little or no knowledge of the sport. Above all, he evokes the heightened focus of the cyclists, for whom nothing seems real apart from the race." (London Review of Books)

"A paean to pain and a hymn to the fellowship of the road. Nothing better is ever likely to be written on the subjective experience of cycle-racing." (The Guardian)

One of my favorite quotes from the book: "Every once in a while someone along the road lets us know how far behind we are. A man shouts: ‘Faster!’ He probably thinks bicycle racing is about going fast." Part memoir, part rant, part poetry, it is the story of a bike race in the subjective voice of one racer. The fictional 150 km 'Tour de Mont Aigoual' is the scene, and the characters are the fellow riders and the unforgiving terrain. I love how Krabbe so accurately renders the ceaseless inner monologues that occur while cycling. This book is perfectly suited to the audio format, and wonderfully performed by narrator Mark Meadows. The words, the language, are so beautifully crafted, so incisive, witty, and economical… I am so pleased that Krabbe turned his copious literary gifts toward cycling. This book has earned its status as a classic of sport writing.

What made the experience of listening to The Rider the most enjoyable?

As an amateur cyclist myself - I was looking for a book that took me inside the mind's eye of racer. This book did exactly that. Krabbe' takes the reader through a 135 Kilometer race - the Tour du Mont Aigoual, describing it in the first person. You will feel like you are along side him. Along the way, he describes a bit of history of his competition and has flashbacks to his youth. Whether as the kid racing friends around his block, a Chess Grandmaster, or, as he is now, a professional cyclist, Krabbe' has a competitive spirit that take him to the top cycling in that era.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Tim Krabbe' - he was the main Character / Racer in the tour and described things beautifully

Have you listened to any of Mark Meadows’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not yet - but Mark Meadows did a fine job narrating it.

If you could rename The Rider, what would you call it?

As Hard as I can go - one rider's memoir about one of the toughest bike races in Europe.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed the book a lot - there were one or two chapters which dragged on a little but by the last chapter - I was glued to my iphone listening to the narration like I was watching the final seconds of the Superbowl, with both teams tied and watching a long pass to the end zone. That's how I felt.

Good Job Tim - I'm going to be Googling you and this race and the riders you mentioned to find out more - you sparked my curiosity.

"The Rider" by Tim Krabbe is well known by cyclists to be one of the great books about road cycling and racing out there. I read the book when it was re-released several years ago and as soon as I had finished I started from page one again and re-read it.
When I saw that it had finally been released as an audio book there was no hesitation, i immediately downloaded it.
Now, before I go on I want to stress that this book is without reproach and whether you read it or listen to it, you won't be disappointed as it givers the finest account of a (fictional) cycle race ever put on paper. for cyclists, this book is really unmissable. And this is where I have a problem with the audio version. I'm not sure if I have watched too many cycle races on TV and listened to interviews with cyclists, but Mark Meadows does not convince me that he is the rider in this book. Written in the 1st person, Mark's narration comes across as slightly disengaged from the story. This won't be a problem for everyone, but for me, I felt I couldn't really get drawn into the story. I just wasn't convinced. That said I still listened to the whole audio version and the quality of the writing and story is still fantastic and if you have never read or listened to this book, then I would still heartily recommend it, despite the narrational flaws

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Will

7/20/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Really does the book justice"

What did you like most about The Rider?

I really enjoyed how you get drawn into the moving the chess game that is the race. The rider's constant assessments and insights give an understanding of the challenges of a race, both physical and mental. I had already read the book before I bought the audio version, the narrator does the book justice - highly recommended.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

O'

London, United Kingdom

2/19/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Simply Excellent"

I have just finished listening to this and I want to listen again. It's a really interesting account of both cycling and life in general, I recommend this to everybody.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

F Gibb

Dumfries

7/10/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"Le Tour de Force"

...well, not quite, but I couldn't resist the pun!

A great little story that captures the dogged determination of the racing cyclist very well indeed. I enjoyed the little caption stories about the great cyclists, and loved how these weaved into Krabbe's own tale. The surreal meanderings worked well for me- the continual attempts to start and restart a long division sum are just the sort of things that happen during a slog of a long ride. This is obviously a book that has been well researched in person!It is from the 1970's and has a historical interest to it- but also feels modern. Undoubtedly the characters, personalities, and single minded blind determination will all be present in the modern scene. It lacks reference to drug use, but is probably a fresher and 'purer' tale without having to incorporate that confounding factor. A modern version of this story would not be able to avoid mention of drugs.

Good narration.

Good book.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Kevin

Taunton, United Kingdom

7/1/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"I could'nt drop this"

Any additional comments?

I'm a runner, I love to run and love to read books about running. A nasty case of patella tendinitis means running is not an option at the moment so I've had to take up the bike, I've always found cycling tedious in the extreme.

With this in mind I went searching for a read to engage me in the art of pedal pushing, I chose Tyler Hamilton’s excellent "inside the tour de France" autobiographical expose of the Armstrong years and followed it up with this, and I'm so glad I did.

It’s such an engaging read, you really feel personally invested in each climb and every break, so much so that I felt out of breath on occasion! The first person narrative works so well to portray the feeling of being in a road race and I've enjoyed this read so much I’ve listened to this three times now and I'm still on the bike!

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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